Given all the resources he has, the album may have been too big to fail, but he’s still maintained enough of his unique talent that it’s unlikely anyone could have done it better.

Although Zombie’s B-movie-in-a-blender lyrics come up short, Electric Warlock at least stakes a claim at being his most musically heavy album since 1998 solo debut Hellbilly Deluxe, or maybe even White Zombie’s Astro Creep: 2000.

When it works, Delusions of Grand Fur makes a case as Rogue Wave’s strongest album, an expansion of sound anchored by the omnipresent sweetness of Rogue’s voice. But where it falls short, the ghosts of Permalight and Nightingale Floors loom ever larger, a haunting reminder of the growing distance between the band’s sterling Sub Pop debut and current quagmire.

Lemonade marks Beyoncé’s most accomplished work yet. It is the perfect combination of the sharp songwriting of 4 with the visual storytelling acumen of her self-titled record. Here, we see Beyoncé fully coming into her own: wise, accomplished, and in defense of herself.

They do a serviceable job in a handful of styles, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Methyl Ethel could be your next favorite band, but they just have to pick what band that will be.

There’s something to be said for organics, but that conversation isn’t happening here. Become Alive compensates by pinning three powerful songs to its tracklist, but the rest feel like scraps unintentionally left on the inspiration board.

The Ship finds Eno’s music again foregoing the linear conventions of music and creating a kind of shapeless yet directed sound experience instead. More than that, the album is one in a long series of evidences that Eno’s limitations remain as near mythic as the man himself.

Katy B is a master of capturing that oceanic feeling when individuality melts away, and every soul rises and falls together on the wave of the beat.

Waltzed in from the Rumbling is a strong effort from a band that’s been around a while, making this kind of lovely indie ­rock since it was topping the CMJ charts in the mid ­2000s. As other, bigger names wandered in the direction of disco (The Arcade Fire) or electronica (Sufjan), Plants & Animals have continued to hone their sound, and this new album is a testament to that work.

Until the Horror Goes could probably use a little more of this resignation.

Much of his work lives in destruction and rebirth, and embracing that helps to make Too Many Voices his strongest record since his 2012 breakout, Luxury Problems.

The four remain honest with their work, and the work rises to the challenge as a result.

Always Strive and Prosper doesn’t play to Ferg’s strengths. It feels more like album made by a big label committee, carving up a talented rapper piece by piece and stripping away everything that makes him special.

Boucher chose to confront his feelings through song, and he did it for himself. The fact that he decided to share it with others seeking solace through sound is a gift.

It’s therefore best to view You’re Doomed. Be Nice. as a collection of anthemic slogans rather than anthemic songs. Upward-looking phrases tend to pop out from the complicated arithmetic.

Despite its shortcomings, Nocturnal Koreans is a decent collection sifted from the excess of an even more solid album, which is certainly enough to keep Wire moving forward.

Taken on its own, it’s a fine if not slightly disappointing work. But looked at within his prolific catalog, it paints a picture of a musician who will never stop experimenting and will likely continue to make music until he physically can’t anymore.

While there is nothing groundbreaking about Blind Spot, there doesn’t need to be. It sounds like Lush in 1994, right at the top of their game. Truly the only complaint is that there are only four songs.

By challenging their listeners and pushing themselves, they manage to sound fresh by refusing to settle. Watching them work through their identity as a band offers a promising take on what an assured statement in the future would look like.

It’s hard to imagine how someone whose last album was an opera could out-do themselves, but Rufus Wainwright has achieved just that with Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, to be released via Deutsche Gramophon on April 22, 400 years after William Shakespeare’s death.

Unassuming and minimal in its execution with a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts, Sleep Cycle establishes itself as a captivating journey inwards towards a destination that’s as comforting as it is reaffirming--and likely what a lot of us need for a good night’s sleep.

By orchestrating an album meant to embody the difficult experience of the advantaged world talking about the atrocities that surround us, the majority of the project lacks a clear stance beyond what has been readily called “poverty tourism.”

Crab Day marks a considerable step forward, appealing to existing fans while also announcing a huge period of growth.

The 13 songs on Nosebleed Weekend communicate angst, anger, and regret by turns, but that feeling of comfort rests like a soft pillow at the very bottom of the mix, giving the trio enough confidence to explore corners of their sound they had never thought to unearth before.

While he may not be breaking new ground here, Morby shows that there’s plenty of resonance yet to be mined from familiar tropes while also finally finding a distinct voice within.

His legacy was going to live on whether The Diary was released or not. This just broadens the scope of the legend and gives us even more to appreciate.

Although this is a solid step towards solidifying an already tight presentation, it could go deeper. There is still a disconnect between Ebert’s philosophy of childlike adventurousness and community-building and the songs themselves.

If there’s one knock against Santana IV, it’s that it might be a little too overstuffed, with a tendency to occasionally wander into the realm of the self-indulgent.